Profession? . . "Interior Designer"

Last week, all interior design students had to attend a meeting with an Interior Designer that was at the universiy to talk to us about a networking site only for interior designers, to meet contacts and be able to get in touch with people of the same profession and see what exactly they do. He said a sentence that really stuck in my head and that was so true, it really hit home. Why is it that when we (interior designers) are introduced to someone we don't know and they ask, "So what do you do for a living?", we immediately think oh my god what do I say and in our heads we get embarrassed of what our answer is?

Interior designers are not all cushions and curtains as everyone thinks. This branding by people is the reason why we hate to reply, "I'm an Interior Designer".  I just found this so interesting because you do hesitate when someone asks you this question, for the simple fact they will jump to this presumption that you have done a 'mickey mouse' course at university and the only thing you do is place cushions in a room and play about with decor. The number of times that I have been asked by friends and family, "So what's next years in colour going to be?" or "What's the latest colour for decor?" and I just scream in my head, and reply "I don't know, that's not what I'm doing a degree on". 

We do, learn and design so much more than people seem to realise. Being an interior designer doesn't mean I literally and only design interiors, it means I can 'practically' design anything from furniture to exhibitions and use amazing software that helps me produce a high standard of final work. 

Interior designers are not all cushions and curtains.

SOMA by Ayala Serfaty

This is an installation representing the study of light. The installation has been created by thin, glass filaments being woven together to produce small structures, that are then sprayed with a polymer to create a skin-like layer. Therefore, forming a cocoon like lamp. It took around 6 years to create SOMA ( Greek word meaning Body) and it's supposed to produce the effect of glowing leaves of snow. She has used modern materials to expose it's delicacy while communicating her idea of nature's beautiful yet complex structures.

Furniture Value

The current project that I am working on in university is a furniture based project. In a group of 3 we have to come up with a furniture design and manufacture it in the workshop, to bring our design to life. The first 2 weeks of the project were mainly research based, for us to look into previous furniture and learn as much as we could. During this time it started to make me think about the value of furniture and how it has changed.

Above, for example, are 2 classic Victorian style pieces of furniture. They are made from strong mahogany with bright and very durable upholstering. They were designed and built to last for years upon years and would have been quite expensive to purchase. However, in this modern age, How many pieces of furniture like these do you see produced?? The answer is not very many. Today we don't want strong, bulky furniture that we can't look forward to changing in a couple of years time. We would rather go to IKEA and buy cheaper furniture that will maybe last a couple of years (if even), that we don't have to really worry about looking after. If something happens to it or it were to break, it's easy enough to replace and this thought along with the one that it wasn't that expensive anyway, seems to make buying cheaper, less durable furniture more appealing.

A sofa bought maybe 30 years ago would have lasted a family the guts of those 30 years, with a few re-upholsters throughout that time. A sofa bought today will last around 3 to 4 years, if your lucky, and then it needs replaced.

In my eyes the values of furniture has vastly decreased over the years and it has shown that the lifestyles of humans and the way they think has greatly changed.

Wallpaper with A Difference

I came across this wallpaper with an integrated shelving system and kind of couldn't believe my eyes. An everyday component to our homes completely transformed into a quirky and yet quite practical design. This wallpaper was created by Kicki Edgren Nyborg and the idea behind it was to prove that wallpaper could be fun and interactive, rather than just something you stick to a wall that has no real character.

This is yet another example of an everyday item that has been completely transformed so simply but yet so effectively.

Keeping Up To Date

My top 5 websites that keep me up to date on my discipline:

1. Dezeen Architecture & Design Magazine
    http://www.dezeen.com/ 

2. Yatzer
    http://yatzer.com/

3. MoCo Loco - Modern Contempory Design and Architecture

    http://mocoloco.com

4. Interior Design, Decorating, Furniture, Architecture, Home & House Design   
    http://freshome.com

5. BBM Sustainable Design
    http://bbm-architects.co.uk

 
My top 5 websites that keep me up to date on everything outside my field:

1. Tree Hugger
    http://treehugger.com

2. BBC News
   http://news.bbc.co.uk

3. National Geographic
    http://nationalgeographic.co.uk

4. World News
    http://wn.com

5. News from Planet Earth
    http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk

Annotated Bibliography

In the previous assignment I looked, in depth, into the power of trends within cultures and the effect that advertising has on human beings. Do we really recognise how influenced we are by the media? Do we know how influenced we are by the world around us? In this particular assignment, I was asked to do research on these theories that I have and provide substantial resources to support them. Below is a list (using the Harvard Method) of different papers and journals on my topic, with a brief description of what they are about:

Brown, Michael F., 1986, Power, Gender, and the Social Meaning of Aguaruna Suicide, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland

This journal looks at one race of people in the Amazon that experience a high rate of suicides. It suggests that suicide may be part of a complex social process and how this self-destruction has become a compelling, highly communicative act.

Cortese, Daniel K, Ph.D., Lewis, Jane, Dr.P.H., and Ling, Pamela M, M.D., M.P.H., 2009, Tobacco Industry Lifestyle Magazines Targeted to Young Adults, Elsevier

This journal studies the link between media influence, specifically in magazines, and teenagers. It looks at how media encourages smoking.

Corteau, David, Hoynes, William, 2003, Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences, Sage Publications

This book examines the entire media process from where images come from to how and why they matter, why they have an impact and the types of questions and problems the media arise throughtout society. The main aspect that these authors convey is that the mass media potentially effect society and culture.

Elfawal, M. A, M.B. Ch.B., M.Sc., Ph.D., 1999, Cultural Influence on the Incidence and Choice of Method of Suicide in Saudi Arabia, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc., Saudi Arabia

This studies how cultural and racial factors could possibly influence suicidal rates and patterns.

Lull, James, 1995, Media, Communication, Culture A Global Approach, Polity Press in Association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

This book investigates the many connections amoung communication, the media and culture. It shows that the media greatly influences our everyday lives and proves that humans don't realise just how powerful the media actually is.

Phillips, David P, 1974, The Influence of Suggestion on Suicide: Substantive and Theoretical Implications of the Werther Effect, American Sociological Association

This paper examines the fact that the number of suicides increases after a suicide story has been publicized. It looks at the rise in suicide due to the influence of suggestion and the influence of the media.

Phillips, David P., 1979, Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities, and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion, The University of Chicago Press

This paper presents findings indicating that imitation and suggestion have a powerful impact on social behaviour and how the media has an influence on human behaviour. It not only looks into suicide but also car fatalities and how humans relate themselves to the people in the published story.

Shadel, William G, Tharp-Taylor, Shannah, Fryer, Craig S, 2009, How does exposure to cigarette advertising contribute to smoking in adolescents? The role of the developing self-concept and identification with advertising model, Elsevier

This journal looks into how increased exposure to cigarette advertising is associated with adolescent smoking intentions.

Stack, Steven, 1987, Celebrities and Suicide: A Taxonomy and Analysis, 1948-1983, American Sociological Association

This study focuses on the impact of celebrity suicide stories and imitative suicides. This research has shown that the amount of publicity given to a suicide, positively related to the monthly incidence of suicide. However, it also showed that problems common with the celebrities and the suicidal population, were not always related.

Me, My Mum and Her Handbag

Nearly every girl out there loves buying or receiving handbags and having loads of them to chose from to match every outfit and fit every occasion....BUT recently, my parents came to visit me and my mum's new handbag caught my eye. It got me thinking, why do we really need multiples of the same style of handbag, with the only differences being the colour or pattern? Why do we need 3, 5 or 10 of the one style of bag? I know your thinking, well you answered that yourself, it's because we want different colours and patterns but when you see my mum's new handbag, you will understand why I began to ask these questions.

Above is a picture of my mum's ordinary looking handbag.

Below is a picture of why I asked the earlier questions.

The pattern on the bag can be removed to reveal the inner handbag shape. The cover attaches to the bag with strong magnets and can be removed and replaced as often as you want. I totally loved this! You simply choose the shape of the bag you want and buy whatever patterned or coloured cover you want and attach it to the bag. It's as easy as that! A really simple design that is so effective and quirky.

It kind of makes you wonder; what other everyday item could you modify/improve so simply and effectively? In a way it made me think, How come nobody else thought of this? It seems like such an obvious idea.

I just think this handbag concept is so quirky and intriguing. I have included some more pictures below: